Hamdan bin Mohammed: We look forward to recording a new achievement that carries Zayed's ambition

The International Space Station «Speaks Arabic»

  • The staff of the "International Station" welcomed Al-Neyadi in Arabic. From the source

  • Sultan Al Neyadi: «The UAE is taking huge steps.. Our goal is to benefit humanity. Thank you, my family. Thank you for our leadership."

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His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, congratulated Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi on his arrival at the International Space Station.

His Highness said in a post on the social networking site «Twitter»: «Congratulations access Sultan.. We thank God for your safety, all the Emirates and Arabs stand with you at the beginning of your mission from inside the International Space Station. We were counting the seconds and we were looking forward to recording a new achievement that carries Zayed's ambition."

The Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and the crew of the crew-6 mission successfully arrived on Friday morning to the International Space Station, after a journey of more than 11 hours to the station, where the station crew welcomed him in Arabic, as the first Arab astronaut to arrive on a long-term mission. "This mission is the beginning that will be followed by tremendous steps in the future," he said, adding that "space is a wide field, and the UAE is making tremendous strides in this field, and is ready to cooperate with the rest of the countries to explore space."

"Our participation in a long-term mission, this time, carries a humanitarian message, and seeks to provide knowledge that serves all humanity," he said.

Hamad Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, congratulated the astronauts on the safe access to the International Space Station, saying that "your mission is the cornerstone of cooperation between the United Arab Emirates, SpaceX and the US Space Agency."

He also sent a message to astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, in which he said, "Our confidence in you is great. Today you represent not only the UAE, but all Arabs, because your mission will be the beginning of long-term space journeys for Arabs."

He added: "Always remember the speech of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, that the country and the people of the UAE are all with you, and with this mission we embody the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, that after Hazza Al Mansouri, queues will complete the mission of Zayed's ambition. We wish you and your team all the best. May God protect you and return safely to the homeland."

The Space Mission Control Center at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre followed the moments of astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi's entry to the International Space Station, and the previous arrangements.

NASA reported that before reaching the ISS, the propulsion engines on board the Dragon spacecraft began ignition operations with the aim of approaching the station, and after the vehicle reached the docking axis 220 meters forward from the station, the vehicle obtained approval to dock with the International Space Station.

After that, the process of ensuring that there was no leakage between Dragon and the International Space Station began, and then the vehicle was opened for Sultan Al Neyadi and the mission crew to enter the space station at historic moments, as the crew-6 crew took memorial photos with the crew-5 crew as soon as they entered the station.

NASA said the Dragon spacecraft, carrying the mission crew, docked on the International Station while the station was 260 miles over the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Somalia.

She pointed out that «docking was slightly delayed, after the mission teams completed troubleshooting the wrong anchor hook sensor in the Dragon spacecraft, as the teams (NASA) and (SpaceX) verified that all the docking hooks are in the appropriate configuration, and (SpaceX) developed a software bypass of the sensor that allowed the completion of the docking process successfully.

According to NASA, the Crew-6 mission team will join the crew of Crew 68 made up of NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann and Josh Casada, as well as Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopieev, Dmitry Petlin and Anna Kikina; for a short time the crew on the space station will increase to 11 people until the departure of the Crew-5.

For his part, Saif Al Neyadi, Sultan's father, sent a message of thanks through his Twitter page, to «everyone who sent, called or called for success to Sultan, and I thank all the people of the Emirates and residents, and I thank everyone who sent or called from the UAE and abroad. May God protect you all and your children."

The UAE's second mission to send Emirati astronauts to the International Space Station was launched from Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Space Base at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the launch took place the day before yesterday, at 9:34 am UAE time.

While on the International Space Station, the crew 6 will be able to witness the arrival of cargo spacecraft, including the SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle and Progress, and will have the opportunity to welcome the astronauts of the Axiom 2 mission and the crew of the Boeing orbital flight test mission.

Crew-6 astronauts will conduct several scientific experiments, some of which include new scientific research to prepare for human missions beyond low Earth orbit, and then benefit from their results in various life sciences on Earth.

The experiments the crew will conduct include studies on how certain materials burn in microgravity, tissue chip research on heart, brain and cartilage function, and an investigation that will collect microbial samples from outside the space station.

According to NASA, these experiments are a specific group of more than 200 scientific experiments and technical demonstrations that will be conducted during the mission, and mission 68/69 includes work on the installation of the final parts of "iRosa", which are solar panels that are installed on the International Space Station, in addition to conducting scientific experiments and research.

During the mission, Sultan Al Neyadi will conduct 19 scientific experiments, in cooperation with NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, the National Center for Space Studies in France, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), covering a range of areas, most notably the cardiovascular system, back pain, testing and experimenting with technologies, epigenetics, the immune system, fluid science, plants, materials, in addition to the study of sleep and radiation.

The mission will also include an educational and awareness program to inspire the next generation of scientists and researchers, as the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre selected two research projects from the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, the first of which will focus on assessing the impact of the microgravity environment in space on the interaction between the heart and posture.

The second project will study the cells of the mouth and teeth on Earth in an environment that simulates microgravity. A number of students and researchers will participate in the two projects to ensure capacity development and qualify a new generation of scientists.

The Zayed 2 Ambition mission is part of the UAE Astronaut Programme managed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), and is one of the projects funded by the ICT Fund, part of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), which aims to support research and development in the ICT sector.

• 25 hours spent by Al Neyadi and crew-6 crew until arrival.